


That's Where You'll Find Love

by Ncj700



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 2018, Follows S8 Canon, Gen, Quizsnacks: A Voltron Cookbook, S8 Follow on Fic, just a reference, no graphic depictions of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22294162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ncj700/pseuds/Ncj700
Summary: This work was written for Quizsnacks: Votron Cookbook Zine! The store is reopening on the 23rd of January at 21:00pm GMT if you missed initial release! The recipes alone are worth it!You can find the link on the Tumblr Page here: https://quizsnack-zine.tumblr.com/This was a great experience working with both artists and chefs who developed the recipesand cocktails! It was such a fun way to work on a Zine and I'd love to do more like it in the future!
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	That's Where You'll Find Love

**Author's Note:**

> This work was written for Quizsnacks: Votron Cookbook Zine! The store is reopening on the 23rd of January at 21:00pm GMT if you missed initial release! The recipes alone are worth it!  
> You can find the link on the Tumblr Page here: https://quizsnack-zine.tumblr.com/
> 
> This was a great experience working with both artists and chefs who developed the recipes ~~and cocktails~~! It was such a fun way to work on a Zine and I'd love to do more like it in the future!

  
‘ _ I’m not sure how we got here.’ _

* * *

“Alright, I’ve practiced the technique techniques you showed me. I should be able to perform the movements needed,” she said, a determined little smile on her face.

Shiro watched Allura pick up her set of chopsticks, eyeing the noodles with trepidation. “Its okay if you can’t do it princess, a lot of humans can't use chopsticks either.”

“Nonsense, I asked you to show me different foods from your culture, and this was yours. I would be rude to not to try,” Allura said stubbornly, looking away from the dish for a moment. “Besides, they look like fun. I’ve never used anything like this for eating.”

Considering space had accepted spork culture already, Shiro wasn’t surprised, but watching the Altean Princess as she rolled up the sleeves of her pink uniform, like she was about to wage war instead of eat a bowl of Sukiyaki, was a little amusing.

She was taking her self-imposed mission to appreciate Earth’s culture as seriously as she did everything else. She seemed to like old asian cuisine quite a lot, and had asked Shiro to teach her how to use the ‘ _ strange utensils _ ’ he was using for his dinner meal the previous day.

Hunk had found them some leftovers so that Allura could practise with real noodles, and Shiro could never find it in his heart to say no to Sukiyaki. 

“You and Keith make this look so easy,” she frowned, tapping the sticks together awkwardly after he had shown her the correct holds. “It’s all I can do to make them move. How do these hold anything?”

“It takes practice,” Shiro laughed. “Keith and I had years to learn Princess, so don’t worry if you don’t get it right first time.”

“Yes, but I’d like to learn. I’d like earth to be home someday,” she insisted. Then she frowned and glared at her fingers. “But I confess, this is like learning to hold a sword all over again,” Allura muttered to herself, deep in thought as she began to pick at the noodles with a shaky hand. “You said this was your partner’s recipe?” Allura asked, having successfully earned herself a mouthful. Shiro nodded. 

“I’m not sure where he got it, but it's better than my Mum’s,” he smiled. “She was a terrible cook. Mine is passable, just. I’m glad Hunk is here, because my attempts wouldn’t do this the justice it deserves,” he laughed.

Adam’s passing had been a shock. He still wasn’t sure how he felt, in a way. He knew he grieved his passing, but whether that was as a partner or an old friend, he wasn’t sure. Having small simple things - like his Sukiyaki recipe - made it easier. 

Allura smiled, the dual colours of her eyes tricking him into seeing sparkles again. Then she slackened her grip and dropped her noodles back into her bowl with a small squeak of surprise.

“No! I nearly had it!”

* * *

‘ _ I’m just glad that we got here.’ _

* * *

“Pidge? Keith too?”

“Can’t sleep,” Keith grunted, laying strips of bacon onto a grill pan from his own personal cupboard in the fridge. “Mum’s supposed to be checking in with Kolivan soon. They have some data on other entities that we might be able to use to wake up Allura.”

Beside him, Pidge was mixing pancake batter, and Hunk ventured into the kitchen curiously. 

“What are you doing up? I thought you guys were going to sleep after all the meetings and stuff?”

Keith grunted his acknowledgment. He was exhausted. Between team training time, all his extra meetings with the other senior commanders, whatever Voltron was needed for, his worry about his mother (who still hadn’t checked in), he didn’t have the emotional energy left to concern himself with sleep. Especially now they were a Paladin down.

“Hashtag team insomnia,” Pidge added, raising a wooden spoon from a mixing a bowl of what looked like batter in lazy salute (and answering Hunk’s question). “We’re having a midnight feast, since Rizavi and Kinkade and the space monster all worked to ruin our lunch the last time we had time for an actual meal. How’s Lance? Has there been any change?”

“Worried sick,” Hunk sighed. “Is there gonna be enough for me to take him something? I don’t think he’s eating or sleeping any better than the rest of us.”

“There should be plenty,” Keith nodded. “Want some?”

“I’m all in,” he nodded, leaning back against the counter and watching. “Is that mologossa?” Hunk asked as Keith stabbed a fork into the round pink, spiky potato-looking fruits.

Keith shook his head. “Nopal,” he said. “I went out to pick some before we left. Galra might have destroyed the towns, but a lot of the cactus are still alive. ”

“So that’s how you survived in your shack?” Pidge asked. “How long do I have to keep stirring this? My arm is going to fall off.”

“Me and dad used to pick them instead of buying the supermarket ones - it seemed kinda pointless to spend money when we had the desert right on our doorstep,” he reasoned, before peeking at Pidge’s mixture. “You can stop.”

“Finally,” she groaned, putting the bowl down and slipping off the countertop. 

Keith nodded, and Hunk watched attentively as he picked up a blowtorch and blasted the fruit with it, burning away the spikes. Then he chopped away at it until he had some half-circle slices as Pidge started pouring the mix she been beating to death (fuelling her movements by venting her own frustration) into the hot pan.

Once it was all plated up, it didn’t take long for them to finish. Keith felt like he could have slept for a week. It wasn’t like his dad's cooking, but it was close enough to his memory that he found some comfort in the meal even now.

He didn’t know whether or not feel guilty that he felt more at home back in space than he had for those few weeks of recuperation back home. Perhaps it was less being in space, and more being in space with the rest of the paladins, but in any way, he was happier here, in the middle of a war, than he ever had been on earth, and he didn’t miss it.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been melting into the uncomfortable cafeteria chair instead of heading back to his room, but when he woke up, Pidge and Hunk had gone, leaving their jackets over his back.

“I’m awake,” he mumbled, sitting up as alerts shone on his comm, and flicking through them on his wrist control. Command Deck, Shiro, Coran -  _ his mother, thank the stars -  _ and the med bay.

The top of the list is a message from Lance, three simple words that make Keith start to his feet and grab the last serving of pancakes, exhaustion forgotten as he hurried down the halls of the ship with the small offering.

' _ Allura woke up. _ ’

* * *

‘ _ It’s where the stars line up.' _

* * *

The lions react to the events that occur in the lives of their paladins in very different ways.

Red, protective but stubborn, refuses to open for anyone but her own. Her paladin’s internal anger gives her strength, and to help him release it, she takes it all.

Yellow is steadfast and empathic, letting his paladin tinker and polish his metal long beyond the need for it, reminding him that he is strong.

Green is perhaps the most active in her support. When her tiny human links into her database for help with formulating and programming, she lets her take over her mainframe. She is determined that together, there is nothing their shared knowledge cannot fix. 

Black, in contrast, is not as forthcoming. Black is their leader, their reassurance, their conscience, and their guide to what they should and should not do. When the other lions began to sense the galaxy, and wondered if the quintessence field might hold the answers, Black roars in abjection.

The universe had been tampered with too much.They could not allow more to be done without natural cause. Not even for their paladins.

Blue, guiding and hopeful after her own hurt, agrees. For the sake of her paladin’s wishes, the universe needs to move past its hurt and scars. It still needs them all. So, she opens herself up one more time, and Voltron lives on.

* * *

‘ _ It’s where the oceans touch.’ _ _   
_

* * *

“…Pidge found the recipe in the green lion’s database,” Hunk said to Coran as they tucked into the celebration meal.”

The juneberry liqueur had been nice enough, but it was strong and so Katie had ventured towards the lighter, more champagne-like drink she’d found for Hunk. Minty and fresh on her tongue, a bit like Mojitos, but not as intense

It was strange to sit around this table and look back at where they’d all started, and where they’d ended up. At the garrison, they’d all be so lost in their own perspectives, before the war had brought them all into cohesion. 

It still wasn’t really over. There was rehabilitation, relief aid, peace talks between planets scrabbling for resources after occupations. On top of that, new tests in space travel that meant new developments in Earth’s own tech to prepare for it.

None of them had retired yet. The lions were still needed, but it felt like they had been fighting for longer than they had been. 

Shiro was thinking about retiring, but for them, space still had a little magic left. Hunk’s culinary quest was only just beginning. She could never picture Keith sitting still; the Blades had become his calling. Lance might have chosen to go back to his roots - he’d never been complicated - but he had done so on an entirely new planet.

Her life was on earth, with her family, where it always had been, but she still joined the Atlas crews. There was still so much for them to learn. Their lives were starting to take their own courses again, yet here they were, altogether, like they’d never parted.

The cake that came at the end of the meal was a rich, royal purple, moist and crumbly on her tongue as they all tucked in, and the buttercream icing, piled high, was rich and creamy. It was broken up with zingy lime slices that decorated the top, toasted coconut around the edges, and a light mousse in the centre, as delicious as it had been the first time.

Lance had dragged everyone into a global adventure just to make Allura a cake with her favourite earth foods in, the sap.It had been worth it, for how happy it her. Tucking into the cake now, with the added decorations of sugared juniberrys, Katie felt like - for a moment - they were at peace.

The universe wasn't perfect - it never would be - but Allura had given them all the chance to make it better. Katie wasn't sure how the others felt, but she wasn't sad. She missed Allura, but she was still there if you looked hard enough.

“Anyone else want seconds?” Keith asked, looking around the table, cake slicer in his hand, poised in wait.

She could see her wishes and compassion and everything that had made Allura, Allura, at that very moment. It things as small as a cake made up by an eager earthling to make her feel at home on a foreign world. 

Hunk was right - food did have a way of bringing people together. It wasn't the same. It never would be, but rather than mourn too long, Katie would rather live up to the implicit trust Allura’s sacrifice had bestowed on them. She had trusted them - her paladins - with her universe, and they would be poor friends indeed if they didn't try to keep it.

“Seconds would be great.”

* * *

‘ _ It’s in a place you’ve never been that feels like home.’ _


End file.
